St. Anselm of Canterbury Episcopal Church
Garden Grove, California
3/23/05
Dear Parish Family:
As I write this letter we are in the gloom and shadow of Holy Week. Easter
has not yet arrived, nevertheless I write this letter in anticipation of the
joy the Paschal mystery will bring to our lives. We have journeyed through
the desert during this Lenten season, reflecting on our mortality and rebellious
nature against God, and this journey has led us to this holiest of weeks. Last
Sunday we read the Passion of our Lord for our Eucharistic celebration. We
began the service celebrating with palm branches and remembering the day when
Jesus entered Jerusalem and how he was received as the hope of a nation oppressed
by a foreign occupying power, and a corrupt king. All along our Lord knew this
was his journey toward the Cross. His arrival in Jerusalem seemed like the
eminent start of a new socio-political revolution, but it ended in a crucifixion.
During this week we enter the darkness of the cross, which is none other
than the darkness of our own humanity. We deceive ourselves when we think it
wasnt we who crucified Jesus. Why did Jesus die on the cross? I believe it
happened this way so that we, all of us, may get in touch with the darkness
of our humanity, that shadow side of us that can run amuck and will run amuck
in the absence of grace. Jesus, God incarnate comes into the world, and the
world rejects and kills him. This is what our humanity is capable of doing
in moments of collective madness, it is no different from the genocide that
happens when perfectly normal people all of a sudden go after a select group
of people as the Nazis did in Germany against the Jews, to destroy them. The
crucifixion of our Lord is the ultimate sign that we are humanity in need of
redemption.
In the midst of the Holy Week darkness we remain in relation with a God who
refuses to give up on us. What parent in their right mind would reach out in
love to those who have murdered their child? And yet this is what God does.
God still reaches out to us in love, offering to us the forgiveness of sins
and a life of grace. God knows our shadow side but God also knows our divine
side, that side of us born in original blessing that makes us the children
of God, the salt of the earth and the light of the world. What an absurd dichotomy,
but there you have it. We are in the end fortuitously blessed because Gods
salvation is offered freely to us through grace and not merit. God moves us
from death to life through the mystery of the crucifixion and resurrection
of Jesus, and Gods forgiveness in contrast to the crime committed against
His Son is the ultimate sign of Gods love, forgiveness, and trust in His children.
In years past I have said that we cannot get to the place of resurrection
without the desert experience, walking the way of the cross. That element is
crucial but there is another. When I witness the horrors that go on in the
world, the disparities between rich and poor, the powerful and weak, the persecution
of the powerless, and the wars of greed, I am reminded of the dark side of
humanity that nailed Jesus to the cross, that same crowd remains alive and
thriving today. It is not enough to walk the desert. It is our task to invite
Gods grace into our lives in genuine penitence, so that we through the forgiveness
of our sins may be transformed into the Easter people our Lord offers us the
opportunity to become. " If we say that we have no sin we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who
is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness" 1
John 1:8,9
Through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ we have the opportunity
to become a people of life, of hope, and of transformation. We have the opportunity
to offer a new hope for the planet, and make real Gods reign on earth. The
crucifixion holds a mirror to our face and presents us with our own darkness
and need for salvation. The resurrection presents us with another picture,
a picture of God as the Lord of life. We have a choice, which picture do we
choose for our lives? Do we choose death by following our own egocentric ways,
or do we choose life, by following in the Way of the Lord? It is up to us to
make the choice. May the Joy and Hope of Easter be ours.
A Blessed Easter to All!!! Alleluia
In Grace,
The Rev. Wilfredo Benitez,
Rector
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